Amazon Project Zero Enrollment 2026: Eligibility, Steps, Fees, and Guardrails

Here is the short answer. You qualify for Project Zero if you are already in Amazon Brand Registry as the rights owner of a registered trademark, you used Report a Violation (RAV) in the last six months, your RAV acceptance rate is at least 90 percent, and you complete a short training. Amazon charges no fee. The self-service tool is for counterfeits only, and misuse costs you access. You enroll inside Brand Registry under Protect, then Project Zero, and Amazon's automated protections keep running once you turn them on.

Amazon positions Project Zero as a voluntary program under its platform terms, not a legal process. It gives eligible brands two things: a self-service removal tool for counterfeit listings, and automated protections trained on your brand data.

Who is eligible to enroll?

You qualify if you meet all four criteria below, which come from Amazon's program page. Amazon adjusts its criteria from time to time, so re-check the page before you apply.

• Brand Registry enrollment as the rights owner of a registered trademark, not a pending application.
• Use of the Report a Violation tool within the last six months to report registered-trademark infringements.
• At least a 90 percent RAV acceptance rate over that same six-month window.
• A clean, policy-compliant history of IP reporting in Brand Registry.

Tip from practice: Amazon looks at the last six months on a rolling basis, not a calendar half-year. If you are at 88 to 89 percent, pause edge-case reports and submit only clear counterfeits until you pass 90 percent, then apply.

Not in Brand Registry yet? The gate is a registered trademark. Our Amazon Brand Registry service handles the US trademark filing and the enrollment together, and we track the application through to registration so you can move to Project Zero as soon as you have a RAV history.

Where do I enroll and what are the steps?

Enrollment lives inside the Brand Registry portal. Go to Protect, then Project Zero. If you are eligible, you see a Get Started button. Amazon requires a short in-product training before it enables the tool.

Typical steps our clients follow:

1. Log in to Brand Registry under the primary rights-owner account.
2. Go to Protect, then Project Zero, and click Get Started if shown.
3. Complete the training module and confirm you will use the tool only for counterfeits.
4. Confirm your brand data signals so automated protections can run continuously.
5. Start with a small batch of obvious counterfeits to validate your internal review process.

Activation is usually quick once you finish the training, provided your RAV history meets the bar.

What can I remove with Project Zero's self-service tool?

Only counterfeit listings: offers for goods that are not genuine products of your brand but use your registered mark or branding to pass off. Amazon's page is explicit that the self-service tool is not for:

• Gray-market or unauthorized reseller control.
• Patent disputes.
• Design or copyright issues.
• Listing content, variation abuse, or catalog hygiene problems.

Use RAV for non-counterfeit IP issues. Keep evidence for every removal, including images, test buys where needed, and a short file note on why the item is counterfeit.

Fees and scope

Amazon states there is no program fee to enroll in Project Zero and no fee to use the self-service counterfeit removal tool. After activation, machine-learning protections run in the background, using your brand signals to block suspected counterfeits before they go live.

The trade-off: with instant removals comes higher responsibility. Amazon can restrict or remove your access if you misuse IP tools.

How to get eligible if you are new or lapsed

If you are not yet eligible, build a clean RAV track record first. Here is the playbook we give brands that want Project Zero access within one to two quarters:

• Confirm you are enrolled in Brand Registry as the rights owner of a registered trademark. If your mark is still pending, get it to registration first.
• Map the last 12 months of obvious counterfeits and prioritize clear, high-confidence cases for RAV.
• Submit tightly documented RAV reports for those cases over the next few weeks. Avoid gray-area reseller issues.
• Track your acceptance rate weekly. Your denominator is total RAV submissions; your numerator is Amazon-accepted actions.
• Once you sustain at least 90 percent over the rolling six months, apply under Protect, then Project Zero.

What not to do: do not pad your RAV numbers with reseller disputes. That drags your acceptance rate down and delays eligibility.

Compliance guardrails that keep you enrolled

Project Zero gives you authority, and Amazon expects discipline. Build these controls before you scale removals:

• Define "counterfeit" for your product lines on one page that any brand-protection analyst can apply.
• Two-person review for every proposed removal in the first month. Legal reviews edge cases.
• Document each removal with screenshots, ASINs, seller IDs, date, and rationale. Store them in a shared folder.
• Throttle volume during week one. Learn how your categories react, then scale.
• Audit your RAV submissions weekly to hold the 90 percent acceptance rate. Keep using RAV for non-counterfeit issues.
• Do not outsource self-service removals to an agency without strict procedures and audit rights. You, not the agency, lose access if things go wrong.

A candid failure mode we see: MAP creep. A sales manager wants to clean up price-cutting resellers and asks the team to use Project Zero on those listings. That is misuse. Keep reseller control, minimum advertised price, and distribution topics out of Project Zero.

A quick, real-world scenario

A mid-market consumer brand enrolled in Project Zero and, during a seasonal surge, used the tool on obvious counterfeits and also on gray-market resellers. Amazon suspended their self-service access. We helped restore it by auditing their past actions, retracting the non-counterfeit removals, and installing a two-reviewer procedure. Since then their acceptance rate has stayed above 95 percent and they have not lost access again.

How Project Zero fits with your broader strategy

Treat Project Zero as the fast lane for true counterfeits, and keep RAV as your primary channel for everything else. Pair it with trademark monitoring so you spot new look-alike sellers before they build sales history. If you sell on several platforms, align your enforcement criteria across channels so your team makes the same call on Amazon, eBay, and Shopify.

For Brand Registry setup, mark strategy, and cross-platform takedowns, these guides help:

• Amazon Brand Registry and Trademarks: A Seller's Complete Guide
• Amazon Brand Registry 2026: Trademark Requirements, Multi-Country Strategy, and Common Rejection Reasons
• Shopify IP Takedown Enforcement 2026

Enrollment checklist you can run today

• Verify Brand Registry enrollment as rights owner of a registered trademark.
• Pull your last six months of RAV submissions and calculate your acceptance rate.
• Identify five to ten obvious counterfeit ASINs for initial self-service testing.
• Draft a one-page counterfeit definition and a two-person review procedure.
• Find Project Zero under Protect, complete the training, and start with a small batch.

If you want us to set this up end to end, our Amazon Brand Registry team can. A licensed attorney leads the work, and we keep you well inside Amazon's IP policies while moving fast on counterfeits.